Invisible to My First Love (Harper and Maddox) novel Chapter 147

Chapter 147

Harper

I sat right next to Maddox on that Sunday afternoon on the deck of his yacht, the sunlight so warm that it hit my shoulders just right.

There was so much food on the table that I thought most of it was just going to go to waste, but I had gotten used to that kind of treatment. He always made sure that there was more than I could have.

Underneath the table, his knee brushed against mine and I kept glancing at him while we enjoyed the meal. The weekend was finally over and those were our last few hours. I didn’t want to think about that because I was going to miss Greece, but it was the reality that I couldn’t escape. While I wished that we could’ve stayed longer, we had to get back to San Francisco. He had work to do and so did I.

It wasn’t like that was the only trip I was ever going to have. He’d made sure to remind me several times over that weekend about all the other places he wanted to take me to.

When we were halfway through the meal, while he was talking about a meeting he was dreading back home, I placed my hand on top of his, which was on the table.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

He paused with the fork in his other hand. “For what?”

“For offering my aunt the job at your hotel.” I smiled genuinely. “I was talking to her earlier and she’s so excited that she can’t wait to begin tomorrow. This job is way better than what she was doing before. You didn’t have to do that.”

My chest warmed up and I just felt like I could reach for him and hug him.

His expression shifted into something warmer. “She’s family to you and that makes her important.”

My smile faded. “Speaking of family, you know how I’ve been thinking about Dean, my dad and all that…”

“Yeah?”

“I want to meet Dean again.”

“Whatever you choose, whatever you need, I’ll be right here.”

I grinned. “Thank you.”

“When do you want to meet him?”

I sighed. “I guess that depends on how busy he is. If he can’t get on a flight, I’ll be the one to go to him. If it gets to that, will you come with me?”

He raised his eyebrows with a wide smile. “Me?”

“Yes.”

“I thought you’d want to have that as a private meeting.”

“Even with you, it’s still private.”

“Wait, I see what you’re trying to do.” He tilted his head at me.

“What?” I shrugged.

“You know that by taking me with you, I’ll have to meet Dean and that means I’ll have to apologize.”

I gasped. “I didn’t think of that, but yes.”

He shook his head with a chuckle. “Even with that, I’m definitely coming with you.”

He gently squeezed my hand, leaning forward for a kiss.

As our lips locked for a few seconds, his phone rang and he pulled away from my lips to check the caller ID.

“It’s

my dad. I’ll be right back.”

I nodded in understanding.

After getting up from his seat, he continued holding onto my hand, making me wonder what he was up to. He leaned forward, kissed the back while looking into my eyes, then stepped away to pick up the call. His voice lowered as he moved towards the other end of the yacht.

Now alone, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I thought about how he’d just kissed the back of my hand. That wasn’t the first time he’d caught me by surprise during that weekend.

As I wondered what he was going to do next, a notification popped up on my phone. It was a text message from Ella and as I waited for Maddox, I picked up my phone so I could read.

“Have you seen this?” the message said.

Just beneath it was a link and my smile faded out of curiosity. She hadn’t given me any further details so I had no idea what I was about to see. I tapped on it anyway and when the page loaded, it led me to a post about a children’s hospital charity gala hosted by the Robinsons. I furrowed my eyebrows as I wondered why she’d sent me that.

Even though I had no idea who those people were, the photos were so beautiful to look at that I began to swipe left. The guests were elegantly dressed, the soft lighting only adding to the glamor.

I still couldn’t figure out why Ella had sent that to me but when I swiped left again, I paused, my jaw dropping in shock. I had just landed on a picture of Tiffany and Grayson. They were some of the donors in attendance. She was in an elegant gown, her hand resting perfectly on his chest. He was smiling at her, his arm around her waist to hold her close to his body.

I should’ve stopped there, but I swiped again and in the next photo, they were kissing and it didn’t look forced, but comfortable and intimate.

I swiped to the previous pictures, then forward again, like the repetition might make me see something different, but it didn’t I leaned back in my seat with a heavy sigh, trying to process what that meant

Maddox

I leaned against the railing at the far end of the yacht, my phone pressed against my ear as I watched the

endless sea

After the usual greetings, my father and I briefly spoke about business as usual and then he brought up my most recent business trip to London, which was a few days earlier. I knew what was expected of me, so I braced myself before speaking.

“I know I owe you a proper report about the meeting in London. I’ll get it done once I’m back in San Francisco.

He laughed lightly. “You don’t have to do it right away. I know you have other things to do as soon as you get here. You need to know that I didn’t call to mainly talk about business.”

“Really?”

“You won’t believe what happened”

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